Chasing The Wind

Silence reigned as Pete and his partner, Jim drove through traffic. Pete was headed to their favorite morning coffee shop. He wanted to tell Jim what happened the night before, but so far he couldn’t find the right words. He wasn’t sure what was up with Farrity, but his gut told him it wasn’t good and it probably was his fault.

Pete wasn’t really a bad person; in fact he really felt bad about the way he’d hurt Sam and was really mad at himself for calling her base commander. When had he become so vindictive?

He found a parking spot on the street and they both got out of the car and entered the coffee shop. Pete found a table and waved at the waitress. She’d been the same one since he started patronizing this popular coffee shop. “Hey, Maggie. We’ll have our usual.”

She smiled back and let them know she’d heard and moved to get their coffee and breakfast sandwiches.

“Pete, what’s up?” Jim was beginning to think Pete had changed his mind about talking to him, but he really wanted to know what was going on that would cause the chief to pull their case files.

“I think I’ve really messed this one up, Jim. I…. Uhh….I’m not doing so good keeping it together since Mel left me.”

Jim waited for him to say more, but Pete just looked at his hands. “And?” Jim asked knowing there was more than that on his mind.

“I.. I… may have cost Dave his job, and destroyed Sam’s career.” Pete never raised his eyes; he seemed to find his hands very interesting.

“How so?” Jim was beginning to worry even more.

“I.. I ask Dave to run a search on her and her CO’s Air Force personnel files. I.. I didn’t realize how connected they were…..” Pete paused and looked up at Jim. “The agent who answered Dave’s phone said Dave was reassigned. My gut says it’s because of the search. Dave told me they both had been scrubbed.”

“Awwhhhcrap! Pete! You used Dave to do a personal search for you? Pete! You know how damn valuable his help is to us. Why? Why would you risk that and risk his job?” Jim stopped short of saying more. He realized it was too late and it wouldn’t help Pete or Dave.

“I know….. I know. I was just was so mad when I left her house. I didn’t know it would come to this. I wouldn’t have hurt Dave for anything or our connection to the FBI files…..” Pete paused for a few long moments before he continued. “She just wouldn’t talk about her job. Then when she came home with her CO and they…. were in such…. a comprising state….” Pete took a depth breath and raised his eyes to Jim.

“And you what? You wanted to know about her or hurt her?”

“I don’t know for sure if it was just to know about her. I was so mad. It was like seeing Mel again with that…” Pete hung his head and closed his eyes.

“Pete, you know this woman isn’t Mel. Right? You’ve only known this Carter woman a short time. Man, you only had a couple of dates? Why the rush to know about her?”

“I don’t know. She’s beautiful, smart, and I really do like her, but there was something that was just so untouchable. And she wouldn’t say too much about her job. Gave me some bull about Deep Space Telemetry or something stupid like that. It just made me curious. Then when her CO came and dragged her off to work, I decided to hang around 'til she came back. She really seemed like she didn’t want to go with him. I really thought she liked me. Boy, did I get a surprise.”

“Pete, you have to let this go. She’s just not for you.” It was hard for Jim to talk too much about personal stuff as with most men. But he felt for his friend. He had made some stupid mistakes in his life too, and he wouldn’t judge Pete now. “We need to find out about Dave, though. See what we can do there. You will probably have a lot of apologizing to do with him.”

“Yeah, I’m sure I’ve lost a good friend over this.” Pete looked sadly at Jim.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

“George, come in, come in.” The President spoke affectionately to General Hammond. He truly liked and respected George, unlike Senator Kinsey who was out for the blood of not only the two Air Force officers of SG1 but Hammond’s too.

“Mr. President, as usual, it’s an honor.” Hammond said as he shook hands with the President.

“Sit. I’ll have Bill bring us coffee. Yours still black?” The President asked.

“Yes, thanks.” George was surprisingly comfortable considering the subject of their conversation.

After the coffee was served and both men were seated the President looked up at George and asked, “Tell me, George, what Kinsey’s goons are spouting isn’t so.”

Hammond looked through soft blue eyes that left much unspoken. “Well, I guess that would depend on what their spouting.”

“After our conversation this morning, I have to be sure this just started, George. You understand.”

“I can assure you of that, Mr. President. As we’ve discussed before, they’ve fought their own feelings for a long time, but the moment they couldn’t I knew they would come clean with it. They’re too honorable not too. And that’s just what they did.”

“Why’s Senator Kinsey involved, Sir and how did he know about them?” Hammond asked.

“He doesn’t know this, George, only about the search. That’s what has his dander up; he can’t get any one to tell him why the search was run.” The President smirked. He loved getting under Kinsey’s skin. He just didn’t like it at George’s expense.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

“Jim, you have Dave’s cell number stored?” Pete asked.

“Sure, just a minute.” Jim reached for his phone and punched in Farrity’s number then handed the phone to Pete.

“Hi, Jim. What’s up?” Dave Farrity asked thinking he had Jim Willis on the other line.

“It’s Pete. I… I tried to get you at your office. Was told you’d been reassigned.” Pete sounded unsure of himself. But Dave was too angry at him to care and before Pete could say anything else he lit into him.

“What the hell were you thinking? Do you have any idea who these two are? Their files are tagged. The damn Air Force, NID, even the President’s office has interrogated me. Now some damn Senator screaming to know why I ran a search on them. Damnit Pete! Why??”

“I’m sorry, Dave. I had no idea they were connected so high up or I’d never asked you. I’m sorry.” Pete waited but only silence came through his phone. Finally Pete found his voice and asked, “Dave, what’s with the reassignment?” Pete held his breath hoping it wasn’t what he thought.

“I should just hang up and not talk to you again.” Dave answered. “But I should have stopped when I realized her file was tagged. Well, I guess it makes no difference now.” Dave continued to rant not answering Pete’s question. Pete remained quiet, realizing that Dave needed to chew him out. He felt he deserved it too.

“You know they’ll want to talk to you too. Don’t you?” Dave asked. “What’s the reason for the search, Pete? Is it really all about a woman?”

“Yeah, it is. I’m sorry, Dave. I should never have used our friendship. But I truly didn’t know it would turn out like this.” Pete’s contriteness went a long way in helping Dave get through his anger; maybe he would be able to forgive him. Someday. But right now he was being demoted and losing his rank and current pay rate. He was still somewhat mad, but he was as mad at himself as he was Pete.

He had realized as soon as his boss confronted him that he’d made a serious mistake in judgment, but he was the one who ran the file search, not Pete. He was the one who put his job on the line, and he knew the minute he realized that the Major’s file was scrubbed that he should have stopped and reported it. But he hadn’t, his curiosity had over taken his reason.

“Pete, the NID contacted Senator Kinsey’s staff and there were a lot of questions from them, too. Seems they’re really interested in why a police detective would have searches run on these two Air Force Officers. Never mind the chewing I got from the Air Force Brass when I didn’t have the answers they seemed to want. Just to give you a heads up, they’re gonna talk to you too.” With that Dave broke the phone connection. He really didn’t want to talk to Pete right now. Maybe later he’d be able to get over this, but right now he just didn’t want to hear anything else about any of this.

Pete wondered what he meant. Why would Senator Kinsey or the NID be interested in him?

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Pete thought about that. He’d only tried to tell General Hammond what he actually saw and he really never got that far into his explanation. What could Dave mean? Why would Senator Kinsey or the NID give a damn about Sam or her CO? Pete was even more curious.

What the hell did they do at Cheyenne Mountain that the President, the NID, the top brass of the Air Force and a senator would get so involved so fast? Was it because of the file search or his conversation with Hammond? He wished he knew. He also wished he’d never met Samantha Carter, beautiful or not. She was way out of his league besides that she definitely had a thing for her CO. Didn’t her brother have a clue? Why would he set them up?

He knew he had to try and apologize to Sam. She at least deserved to hear the words from him. He should never have reacted as he did. He knew that, he’d always prided himself for his ability to control himself in all situations, but the last few months he knew he’d changed. The next thing he had to do was get himself checked out and some help or he’s stand to lose everything he’d worked so hard to achieve. But right now, he was going to start by apologizing to Sam and her base commander, Hammond.

0o0o0o0oo00

“Sam, don’t hang up. Please. Just let me apology first.” Pete begged into his cell phone. She didn’t say anything at first, then after a long pause, “What do you want Pete?”

Jack’s head jerked toward her and then quickly back to the road. They were on their way to the mountain when Sam’s phone rang. “Tell that son of a bitch were he can go.” Jack’s voice was loud enough for the people in the next car to hear him.

“I’m sorry, Sam. I just wanted you to know I shouldn’t have said what I did. But most of all I’m sorry for going to your commander with this. I was terribly wrong.” Pete sounded sincere but Sam was still so mad at him for going to Hammond she didn’t want to hear an apology.

“Sam, hang up that damn phone!” Jack demanded causing her to glare at him. She was completely capable of fighting her own battles and she’d never liked being told what to do in her personal life. She had to obey so many commands and orders in her military life that she’d be damned if she started out with Jack like this in their private lives.

She turned to Jack and glared, “Damnit! Sir, I’m not a child!” Then she turned back to her phone. “Pete, I have absolutely nothing left to say to you. I’m just so glad the real you came out so fast.” She snapped the phone shut then turned to Jack, her eyes were blazing. But Jack didn’t give her time to say anything.

“Sorry Sam. Just the mention of his name set my blood boiling. How dare he think he can do that to you and then come back and apologize like it makes it go away!” Jack was mad all over again.

Sam just huffed and turned to look out the window. After a few minutes Jack reached for her hand and their fingers intertwined. “Sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to give you orders.” He quickly looked at her face but she didn’t look at him. He gently pulled her hand toward his lips and kissed her fingers until she looked his way. Tears had filled her eyes but she smiled at him.

“Okay.” She whispered, “I know it will take us some time to get adjusted.” She squeezed his hand then turned back to the window. Jack’s heart jumped to his throat, he hated that he’d hurt her. “Sam? Honey? I’m really sorry. Next time just deck me.”

She snorted trying to hold back her tears as well as her giggles. “Okay, Jack.”

0o0o0o0o0o0o

Jack opened the door and started around to Sam’s side of the truck, but she was too fast, she was out and waiting as he approached the door. He placed his hand at the small of her back and guided her toward the first check out of Cheyenne Mountain. He leaned a litter closer to her and whispered in her ear although there was no one around to hear him.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep my hands off you today. I keep wanting to pull you over to the side and have my wicked way with you again.” Jack smiled trying to make the tension that had settled between them lighter.

“I’d like that, but we’ll just have to wait until we get home. We have to maintain our professionalism here, sir.” Sam looked up at him and smiled. All was forgiven. She was trying hard to wear her Major Carter persona now. She was right; it was going to be a difficult adjustment.

“Well, if you keep smiling at me like that, I know I’m not gonna last.” He winked at her.

They stopped at the check in and both signed in and started to walk down the hall. The guard suddenly stopped them, “Wait, Sir. General Hammond left word for you to call him at 1430 hours on his cell phone. He left his number if you need it.”

“That’s okay, airman. I have the number.” Jack said as he looked at Sam and they walked through the corridor. “Wonder what he wants.”

“Wonder where he is?” Sam queried.

They reached the elevator and just as soon as the doors closed Jack pulled Sam into his arms and kissed her. As the kiss broke he gazed into her eyes, “That’ll have to do me 'til tonight.” His smile warmed Sam’s heart. It felt so good to be able to express feelings that had been hidden so long that they were almost forgotten. They pressed their foreheads together a few long moments staring at each other’s eyes before the elevator bell rang indicating the end of the NORAD levels.

As they changed elevators and pressed the level 19 button, Sam quickly placed a peck on Jack’s lips and squeezed his hand. “Call me as soon as you’ve talked to the general, okay?” Sam asked smiling sweetly.

“You betcha. Why don’t we just meet for lunch at 1130 hours and for cake at 1530 hours so I can tell you in person.” Jack’s grinned spread across his face.

“What? You can’t go all day without seeing me?” She teased. Sam couldn’t remember seeing him look so happy and relaxed. It seemed they had created their own little world so fast, and she tried to keep any bad thoughts to the back of her mind. She refused to give Jack up, but she had no clue as to how or what to do next.

The doors started opening and Jack squeezed her hand once more before letting it go. He indicated for her to exit. She smiled at him not saying anything else as he pushed the elevator button to his level. The last thing Sam saw was him winking at her as the doors closed. Well, if the world ended today she would die happy, she thought as she walked away.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o